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Latest business, finance and stock market news today at 10am on June 11, 2024
Transcript of today’s latest business news at 10am on June 11, 2024
Let’s begin – GIFT Nifty was trading up 53 points or 0.23% at 23,285.50, indicating a positive opening for domestic indices NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex on Tuesday. Earlier on Monday, the NSE Nifty 50 ended down 30.95 or 0.13% at 23,259.20, while the BSE Sensex fell 203.28 points or 0.27% to 76,490.08. According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, optimism about a rate cut is waning as US economic data remains healthy. The FED is expected to maintain its current position. However, any reduction in the previously targeted rate cut could test the market’s patience. Stocks to watch today are Mphasis, Vodafone Idea, InterGlobe Aviation, IRB Infra, RVNL.
Next – India’s retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index likely rose to a three-month high of 5% in May, mainly due to rise in prices of vegetables and pulses, according to a survey median with 18 economists led by FE. In April 2024, global inflation was 4.82%, and in May 2023, it was 4.31%. The Office of National Statistics will release CPI data for May on Wednesday. Economists’ estimates for the May CPI print ranged from 4.5% to 5.2%. If the headline reaches 5%, the overall index will increase 0.7% month over month, at the highest pace in 10 months.
Moving forward – The microfinance industry’s gross loan book rose 25% year-on-year to 4.3 trillion rupiah as of March 31, a Micro Finance Industry Network report said on Monday. The industry served 78 million unique borrowers through 149 million accounts. NBFC-IMFs are the largest microcredit provider, representing 39.4% of the total industry portfolio. The outstanding loan of NBFC MFIs stood at Rs 1.7 trillion as on March 31. Assets under management of NBFC MFIs increased by almost 30% year-on-year to Rs 1.6 trillion. The AUMs include an off-balance sheet exposure of Rs 30,641 crore. The average loan amount disbursed per account increased by 9.9% to Rs 45,024 in 2023-24. On an aggregate basis, NBFC-IMFs have a network of 20,348 branches with 1,83,842 employees.
In another development – the Adani Group, which is implementing two wind power projects in Sri Lanka totaling 484 MW, has offered to supply renewable energy at 24.75 LKR per unit, much lower than the existing tariffs in the country. This offer is significantly lower than the tariffs for existing renewable and traditional energy sources in the country, which vary between 8.75 and 26.99 cents, according to a compilation of energy tariffs. The Sri Lankan government has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with Adani Green Energy for power from wind farms in Mannar and Pooneryn. AGEL is the entity through which the Indian conglomerate is implementing renewable energy projects in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile – The new government is likely to overhaul the country’s entire statistical system, which includes carrying out additional surveys, resolving data leaks, improving the frequency of survey dissemination and adjusting the methodology for calculating various indicators macroeconomic issues, official sources told FE. . A fundamental proposal being considered is to minimize errors and discrepancies in macroeconomic indicators, which are released periodically. Furthermore, the ministry is considering conducting a Periodic Employment Survey, an indicator of unemployment, for rural areas every three months. Currently, only urban unemployment is reflected in PLFS quarterly data. According to economists, delay in release of key macro data and frequent revisions have a major impact on the government’s policy-making exercise.
In other news – Nitin Gadkari is back as Minister for Road Transport and Highways and the main task he faces after a superlative performance over the last decade is to attract large-scale private investment. Long years of government financing of the sector have left the NHAI heavily indebted, forcing the government to increase budgetary financing of road projects and freeze new NHAI borrowings. The sector awaits what will be the next major plan that will make the road sector maintain the pace of construction. Last year, the Bharatmala road development program was placed in limbo by a Finance Ministry directive that prevented any new financial commitments from being made. This halted the award of new projects under the plan.
Lastly – India’s semiconductor industry is expected to face a shortage of 250,000 to 300,000 professionals by 2027, according to a report by TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship. Talent shortages are expected in sectors such as research and development, design, manufacturing and advanced packaging. This assumes importance as India aims to capture a significant share of the global semiconductor manufacturing industry. Under the Rs 76,000-crore semiconductor incentive scheme, the government has approved four projects so far. This includes Micron’s assembly, testing, marking and packaging project, Tata’s chip manufacturing and assembly project, and CG Power’s chip assembly project. More projects are also underway and in the approval phase.